ABC/Heidi GutmanWhile Camila Cabello has avoided talking in depth about her departure from Fifth Harmony in 2016, she agreed to discuss the topic in a new interview with the New York Times.
According to Camila, the hit duet she recorded with Shawn Mendes in 2015 led to tension between her and the rest of the group. She also claims she asked to collaborate on the group’s song lyrics but wasn’t allowed to do so.
“I was just curious and I wanted to learn and I saw all these people around me making music, writing songs and being so free,” she tells the Times. “I just wanted to do that and it did not work.”
Camila adds that she wanted to do a solo album while remaining a member of Fifth Harmony, but the other members weren’t happy about it. After she attended writing sessions with outside collaborators like Diplo and Cashmere Cat, she was told she had to choose between her own career and the group.
“It became clear that it was not possible to do solo stuff and be in the group at the same time,” she says. Her decision to leave was based on her feeling that, as she tells the Times, “if anyone wants to explore their individuality, it’s not right for people to tell you no.”
Camila admits she was shocked when, this past August, Fifth Harmony’s performance at the MTV VMAs took a dig at her, showing an unseen fifth member being yanked offstage.
“It definitely hurt my feelings,” she says. “I wasn’t expecting it, I wasn’t prepared for it — especially because at that point I’d moved on from it. I was just like, ‘What? Why?’”
Camila’s solo album Camila, featuring the smash “Havana,” comes out tomorrow; she’ll perform on Good Morning America to mark the occasion.
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